Day three of Blogging Marathon 24 and I have put together a meal from the take away menu of India House Veg Restaurant. There is a dish each from their Hari Bhari Subjiyam (Dal Fry), Hamari Pasand (Bhindi Masala) and Koyle Ki Khan Se (Stuffed Garlic Naan). I skipped the Breakfast section, since it wouldn’t suit with these dishes.

Bhindi Masala : This curry was a bit of a let down after all the work that went in it. It tasted OK, but nothing like what you get in the restaurants. It may be because I didn’t deep fry the bhindi. Anyway, this is what I did!

Wash, clean and pat dry 500 gms of ladies finger. Coat them in a tablespoon of oil and microwave for 5-6 minutes, without lid.

Saute one chopped onion, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, 2-3 green chillies in a tablespoon of oil. Add one chopped tomato once the onion turns pink. Add 1 tbsp coriander powder, salt and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. Mix and cook for two minutes. Check the seasonings. Take off the heat, cool and grind into a paste. This is a standard paste for all curries and can be made in advance and frozen for making life easy!

For the curry, saute an onion in a spoon of ghee or oil. Add the cooked bhindi and let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Donot mix too much since the okra might break, but do stirring it now and then carefully. Add half a tomato, chopped to this mix, followed by the prepared paste. Let everything come together and check and adjust seasonings if required.

Add 2 tbsp coriander leaves, 1 tsp of garam masala and mix. Take off the heat and serve hot with chapatis/roti/naan.

Dal Fry Recipe

Ingredients:

Moong dal : 1 cup, cooked

Onion : 1 medium, chopped

Tomato : 1/2 of a medium one, chopeed

Ginger : 1 tsp, shredded

Red chilies : 1-2 tsp

Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp

Garam masala : 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves ; 2 tbsp

Jeera seeds : 1 tsp

Ghee/Oil : 2-3 tsps

Water

Salt

Method:

Wash and clean half a cup of moong dal and pressure cook for 4 whistles or till done. Mash and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a pan, add the jeera and red chilies. Once jeera splutters, add the onions and cook till pink.

Add tomatoes and after a minute, add the dal, turmeric powder and salt. Mix and add half a cup water if its too thick. Once you add water, ensure that you mix everything together and the water doesn’t form a separate layer on top. You might have to add more water, if the dal is too thick.

Add the coriander leaves. Let it boil. Keep mixing at regular intervals, though I do this out of habil than of need :D. Do a taste test and adjust seasonings. I sometimes add red chili flakes if I want a bit of spice. You can add chilli powder or green chillies or more red chillies at the beginning itself.

Take off the heat, serve hot with rice or chapatis.

I will be sharing the recipe of the naan later! The naan and the daal fry compensated for the OK tasting bhindi. The naan esp. took the meal truly to a restaurant level.

Everything is so delicious looking Rajani..just like from a restaurant!..I have searched long and hard for a bhindi fry that my hubby had in delhi..since then I have always been trying all sort of different ones to match his memory..:)